Watch and Learn to Make a Veloute Sauce

French Mother Sauce – Veloute

What are Mother Sauces?

Mother sauces are the parent/base/foundation of every sauce in the world. Every sauce starts with a specific technique.

Today’s lesson we will be covering Sauce Velouté (prounounced “vuh-loo-TAY”). Veloute Sauce has a wide range of uses. The Veloute technique is also used to create soups. With soups, think of a looser sauce viscosity. Given that Veloute is a type of sauce; I would like for you to look at Veloute as a technique versus a sauce. The technique of Veloute begins in the 19th century and fathered by the worlds most famous and important Chef in the history of Culinary Art, Auguste Escoffier. Auguste Escoffier was the founder of French Cusine and French technique. French technique can be found all around the world and within every culture’s cuisine. This does not mean the French created all culinary techniques, they only mastered them first and in a much more comprehensive way. The reason most of the Culinary schools around the world teach French technique. I was fortunate to attend Le Cordon Bleu.

Today we will learn how to make a proper Veloute Sauce. The Veloute sauce will be flavored into a Tomato Veloute sauce. A stunning sauce nicely paired with seafood among many other options.

Tomato Veloute Sauce

– Steps – Making Veloute Sauce

Instructions for making Classic French Sauce Veloute

Highly Suggest Watching The Short Video

Measure out 2 tbps of Butter and 2 tbps All Purpose Flour. These ingredients will be used to create the Roux. The Roux is the base of the sauce and will be the thickening agent.

Roux Defintion

ro͞o/

noun

a mixture of fat (especially butter) and flour used in making sauces.

Roux is usually equal parts fat to flour

First, melt the butter in a sauce pot, then add in the flour and stir and incorporate both ingredients.

Make sure to keep stirring as to not burn the roux. This process is also cooking the flour, which is important to the finished sauce texture. The flour could leave a gritty mouthfeel if not cooked. The roux we are using today is called a blond Roux. Blond Roux means “No-Color”. Cooking the Roux takes around 2 minutes on medium heat. If you continue to cook the Roux you’ll end up with a “Dark-Roux’. Example of a “Dark-Roux’ would be a Roux for making Gumbo. Taking the Roux to a chocolate color.

Next – Not traditional in making a simple Veloute. While cooking the roux, this opens the door to adding flavor and adding complexity. Often ingredients like garlic and onion are added to carry a depth of flavor all the way through the sauce. In our Tomato Veloute sauce, we add in half of one shallot and cook it with the roux. Leave the shallot in large pieces for easy removal.

Incorporating the stock – Have one and a half cups of stock ready to pour in slowly once the roux as cooked. If you feel like the Roux is about to start burning, 1) your heat is too high 2) adding the stock will slow the cooking process for a few moments lowering the Roux’s temperature. Start by adding in 1 cup of stock and keeping the other 1/2 cup waiting on the side. I suggest having additional stock waiting as well besides the additional 1/2 cup. The reason is the sauce will start to thicken after the first cup is added. The heat on the stove will cause the roux to activate and thicken. This process happens quickly, which isn’t a problem because you have stock waiting to be added to balance the thickening of the veloute sauce.

Watch the video to see everything happen in real time

Flavoring the Veloute sauce. Once the consistency of the Veloute looks pretty good. Meaning, the sauce should be slightly loose at this point. if not, add more stock. You can always tighten up a sauce by putting it overheat.

Add in tomato paste, 1 tsp at a time. Add as much as you like to reach your desired sauce color. I used 3 tsp.

You now have made a Veloute Sauce – Pretty easy after making it a few times. You can use this technique next time you make gravy. Use the leftover liquid your protien cooked in as the stock replacement. See below for more variations of Sauce Veloute

1 1/2Cupsof StockPlus some in case you need to thin out the sauce(Traditionally, a white stock like vegetable or chicken)

Pinchof Salt

Optional: Onionshallot, garlic to flavor the Roux

Instructions

In a small sauce pot, on medium heat, melt butter, next add flour to create a Roux. Roux: See definition in the article above. Once combine cook for a minute to two. Making sure to cook out the flour and taking the Roux to the Blond Stage. Making sure the Roux does not take on any color. Next, add in one cup of stock, slowly, stirring the entire time. Keep stirring and the sauce will start to thicken, and quickly. This is the time you add the other 1/2 Cup of Stock. I like to have additional stock just encase the sauce needs to be thinned out some. Once the sauce is at the correct viscosity for your application/use you're done. You can always thicken the sauce further by cooking additional over medium/low heat. The Veloute can be flavor any way you like. At this point, you'd add in your flavoring ingredients like tomato paste. You can do this over very low heat.